"We were having our Malibu Country cast Christmas party at our house here in L.A. and Narvel got the call from Brandon during dinner and he said, 'I'll call you right back,'" McEntire told Us of the momentous occasion. "And then we got upstairs and each got on the phone and got to talk to both of them."

"[Clarkson] said a while back, 'Don't be surprised if we elope!' And I said, 'I will not be surprised!'" she continued.

McEntire herself married husband Narvel Blackstone, Brandon's father, back in 1989, and admitted that even back then she wasn't a gal to hanker for a large wedding.

"That was never my deal and I don't know that that's Kelly's either," she told Us. "I've had two weddings and they were both very small. Very few people. They really weren't even weddings. We had a preacher there, but that's it."